dairy-free

It isn’t Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie, but when I hosted my Sugar-Free Thanksgiving, the pumpkin pie was the thing that had me a little stumped. I had plenty of ideas for other sugar-free desserts, but I really wanted to serve my guests a delicious healthy Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Fortunately, this sugar-free pumpkin pie does not disappoint! So how does one sweeten a pumpkin pie without the use of added sweeteners? In addition to sugar, I was also avoiding maple syrup, which is my fav sweetener and so delicious in a pumpkin pie.

Since pumpkin is naturally quite bitter, I needed a good way to cut out all of the sugar, while maintaining the characteristic pumpkin pie creaminess and sweetness. The sweetener used here is 2 very ripe bananas. The key is to use very ripe bananas, because otherwise the banana flavour is too prominent.

I served this pie with Pumpkin Spice “nice” cream, but if you’re not avoiding sugar then you can feel good about enjoying that scoop of french vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream with this healthy Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Sweet Potato Custard

October’s Beauty Detox assignment was to create our own version of Kimberly Snyder’s Sweet Potato Custard. By blending cooked sweet potato with tapioca, I was able to achieve that light and creamy texture of a traditional custard without any of the eggs or milk. This vegan sweet potato custard is sweetened with a touch of maple syrup and topped with whipped coconut cream (see recipe below).

Pretty much the only time I ever really eat custard is when it’s part of a prix fixe menu, so in my mind it’s a fancy dessert even though it really couldn’t be more simple. And this sweet potato custard isn’t any different. I kept it easy by baking the custard, which avoided having to stand over the stove stirring the tapioca.

Tapioca isn’t typically baked, but I decided to go ahead and bake this custard in a water bath just like a classic custard. Usually this method is used to prevent the egg from overcooking and curdling the custard, and while this recipe doesn’t contain any egg, I thought it might prevent the outside of the custard from cooking too quickly. I wanted to make sure that this sweet potato custard had a consistent creamy texture throughout, and the water bath did the trick. I refrigerated my custard before removing the ring molds just to be extra sure that it would hold together. By ring molds I mean tin cans, since I couldn’t find my ring molds anywhere. The tin cans did the trick, so remember that for the next time you’re desperately in search of a ring mold! Or, you know, use a ramekin.

This sweet potato custard is thickened with tapioca and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. This baked custard is a creative, completely vegan twist on a classic dessert.

Author: Home at Six

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, chopped

4 tbs tapioca flour

¼ cup coconut milk

3 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs vanilla extract

coconut whipped cream, walnuts, and maple syrup for serving

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F

Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan

Add sweet potato and simmer until very tender (10 minutes)

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and combine until completely smooth

Fill ramekins or other oven safe food molds and place in a larger casserole dish

Add boiling water to larger casserole dish to ⅔ of the height of the ramekins

Carefully place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes

Allow to cool completely before serving

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Coconut Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

1 can full-fat coconut milk

2 tbs powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Cool coconut milk in fridge overnight. When ready to use, flip can over and open. Pour off liquid and retain leftover cream. In chilled bowl, use a hand-mixer to mix coconut cream, sugar and vanilla until it becomes nice and fluffy. Store leftovers in the fridge, and re-whip before serving.

Thanks so much for the congratulations on our recent engagement! We are so excited to take this next step in our relationship and I couldn’t be happier!

All that aside, this morning I made a shocking realization. it’s now already mid-October and I haven’t even had my first pumpkin spice latte! What?! I have a strict policy that fall-specific drinks aren’t to be enjoyed before October 1st (and no Christmas drinks until December 1st), no matter how early Starbucks wants to roll them out. But we’re two weeks into the month and I haven’t had my first PSL yet. To be rectified ASAP!

While I have my rules about my seasonal beverages, I don’t have any rules or regulations prohibiting the early use of pumpkin in other goods for consumption, which is a good thing since I had to celebrate Thanksgiving a month early this year. As you know, my early Thanksgiving coincided with Sugar-Free September. I wasn’t very worried about pulling it off with the exception of dessert.

For me, Thanksgiving really isn’t Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. So Sugar-Free September was going to need a sugar-free pumpkin pie. Earlier in the month I’d made a Sugar-Free Peach Pie, but peaches have so much sweetness all on their own. If you’ve ever tried pumpkin straight out of the can, or the rind, then you know it isn’t the least bit sweet. In fact, it’s pretty gross! I certainly didn’t want to end up with a gross pumpkin pie, no matter how healthy.

My (needlessly strict) rules for Sugar-Free September prohibited the use of any added sweeteners. That meant I couldn’t use any of my typical baking sweetener alternatives. No stevia, no maple syrup, no dates. So what did that leave? Bananas! I’ve used bananas in plenty of cakes and muffins before, and of course in banana loaf, but could I pull off a banana-sweetened sugar-free pumpkin pie? Yep, I sure could!

But this sugar-free pumpkin pie recipe isn’t that sugar-free pumpkin pie recipe. This recipe is my first attempt at sweetening a pumpkin pie with overripe banana. I didn’t quite trust that it would work, so I added a few scoops of carob powder for extra sweetness. This attempt resulted in banana-chocolatey deliciousness with that smooth pumpkin pie texture, but it wasn’t close enough to the classic pumpkin pie that I wanted to serve my Thanksgiving dinner guests. For that recipe, download my Sugar-Free Thanksgiving Menu. But if you’re looking for another use for that extra can of pumpkin you’ve got in the cupboard, then go ahead and try this Sugar-Free Banana Chocolate Pumpkin Pie.

Since I probably totally grossed you out by sharing that whole hair-in-bread thing, this morning I’m sharing a great recipe to make up for it. This healthy flax bread takes 45 minutes from start to in your mouth.

My hand mixer would not turn on when I went to mix this so I whisked by hand and it turned out nicely.

I wanted a quick and super easy bread recipe that was going to be sugar-free for Sugar-Free September and contained simple ingredients that I had on hand. I found and based my bread on this recipe on glutenfreeeasily.com.

Easy to prepare and packed full of healthy flax, this loaf doesn’t crumble, making it ideal for toast or sandwiches.